Wake-Up Call

University of Southern California engineering professor and aviation safety expert Najmedin Meshkati’s summation of cockpit automation has a sobering ring as the aviation industry comes to grips with the interim accident reports of Air France flight 447, the Airbus A330-200 that crashed into the Atlantic Ocean on June 1, 2009, killing all 228 people onboard.
The latest interim report, issued by the French BEA in late June, prompted particular focus on cockpit automation and ...

There is an urgent need for a rethink on these fundamentals, now most old school pilots with a background in early generation jets have retired.

We now have ultra reliable engines and excellent EFIS & ICAS, but curved balls can still show up in flight and must managed by the pilot's lateral thinking & manual flying if necessary; not total reliance on the electronics to provide the answers.

The US majors will not give up on their campaign against the Gulf carriers, which present the biggest-ever threat to the future of US airlines, the CEO of United Airlines said in a speech in New York Thursday....More

Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) president Tim Canoll said the wider public has to be educated about the threat laser pointers pose to aircraft and help law enforcement catch people shining lasers into cockpits....More

US airlines, particularly regional carriers, have expressed hope that strict pilot training requirements implemented by FAA in 2013 will be eased in FAA reauthorization legislation expected to be taken up by Congress later this year, but there will likely be a strong push back against any efforts to change the rules....More